The creator of Midsomer Murders has been suspended after claiming that the
detective series is "the last bastion of Englishness" because it
has no black faces.

Brian True-May said that one reason for the show's popularity was the absence of ethnic minorities.

If black or Asian faces were introduced to the idyllic Midsomer setting "it wouldn't be the English village" that viewers know and love, he claimed. More than six million viewers regularly tune in to ITV1's cosy Sunday night drama.

"We are a cosmopolitan society in this country, but if you watch Midsomer you wouldn't think so. I've never been picked up on that, but quite honestly I wouldn't want to change it," he said.

Asked what he meant by "cosmopolitan", Mr True-May, 65, replied: "Well, we just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them. It just wouldn't work. Suddenly we might be in Slough. Ironically, Causton [the town in Midsomer Murders] is supposed to be Slough. And if you went to Slough you wouldn't see a white face there.

"We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way."

His comments to the Radio Times so outraged ITV bosses that Mr True-May was promptly suspended by All3Media, the conglomerate that includes Mr True-May's company, Bentley Productions.

An ITV spokesman said: "We are shocked and appalled at these personal comments by Brian True-May which are absolutely not shared by anyone at ITV. We are in urgent discussions with All3Media, the producer of Midsomer Murders, who have informed us that they have launched an immediate investigation into the matter and have suspended Mr True-May pending the outcome."

Mr True-May gave the interview to promote the 14th series of the show, which has been sold to 231 territories around the world and continues despite the recent departure of central character DCI Tom Barnaby, played by John Nettles.

Explaining the secret of its popularity, he said: "When I talk to people and other nations they love John Nettles, but they also love the premise of the show. They love the perceived English genteel eccentricity. It's not British. It's very English."

He conceded that many people would consider that "Englishness" in the 21st century should encompass other races. "Well, it should do, and maybe I'm not politically correct," he said. "I'm trying to make something that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed. And I don't want to change it."

Mr True-May added that multi-culturalism “would just look out of place” in Midsomer, with its thatched cottages and village greens. The show is filmed in South Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Mr True-May lives in Great Missenden, Bucks.

He is the co-creator and executive producer of the show, which began in 1997 and returns this week. Nettles has been replaced by Neil Dudgeon, who plays Tom Barnaby's cousin DCI John Barnaby.

Midsomer Murders is "the biggest drama success of all time" save for Star Trek or The X Files, according to Mr True-May, who previously worked on Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Birds of a Feather and the SAS drama Ultimate Force.

The show's current stars were asked if they approved of the all-white cast. Dudgeon said: If people have been quite happy for it not to really change in 14 years, there's no reason to suppose they're going to want it to change now. I daresay there are some things where I would want a bit more of this and a bit less of that - but that's a long way in the future."

Jason Hughes, who plays DS Jones, added: "I've wondered myself and I don't know. It's an interesting question. This isn't an urban drama and it isn't about multiculturalism.

"That's not to say that there isn't a place for multiculturalism in the show. But that's really not up to me to decide. I don't think that we would all suddenly go, 'A black gardener in Midsomer? You can't have that!' I think we'd all go, 'Great, fantastic'."

A 2006 survey found that the show was "strikingly unpopular" with ethnic minorities. Rob Berkeley, director of The Runnymede Trust, the race equality think tank, said: "Clearly, as a fictional work, the producers of Midsomer Murders are entitled to their flights of fancy, but to claim that the English village is purely white is no longer true and not a reflection of our society - particularly to this show's large international audience.

"It is not a major surprise that ethnic minority people choose not to watch a show that excludes them."